Long before SUVs and minivans, domestic automakers proudly sold wood-bodied station wagons, better known as woodies.

SARATOGA, FL.- Through October 17, 2010, the Saratoga Automobile Museum presents Woodies! the Charlie and Marie Montano Collection: an all-new exhibit of vintage American wood-bodied cars from the 1940s and 1950s with special emphasis on the Chrysler Town and Country.

The Woodie: An American IconLong before SUVs and minivans, domestic automakers proudly sold wood-bodied station wagons, better known as woodies. Hand-crafted of maple, ash and mahogany, with timber bodies that gleamed like fine country furniture, woodie wagons transcended class barriers. They were bought by everyone from average Joes to the very wealthy; by hotels, private schools and camps; by large families, hunters, and anyone who needed more space and utility than a basic sedan offered. There were no minivans or SUVs in that era, and Plymouth didnt offer the first all-metal wagon until 1949.

Charlie and Marie Montano, of Gloversville, NY, own a superb collection of head-turning wood-bodied cars, including one example from every year that Chrysler marketed its marvelous, and now Classic Town and Country models. The Montanos have generously offered thirteen woodies from their collection for display at the Saratoga Automobile Museum.

As well, they have a range of General Motors woodies, including a barn find un-restored 1942 Oldsmobile, a massive, un-restored and well-preserved 1946 Buick Roadmaster, and a very rare 1947 Nash Suburban thats currently undergoing restoration.

The woodie is an American institution, says Montano. They were hand-crafted cars. I find the color and the warmth of the wood to be especially appealing. Montano maintains a well-equipped auto shop and he enjoys working on his cars. I leave wood refinishing to the experts, he admits, but I take the cars apart; I do most of the mechanical restoration, and I reassemble each one.

Marie and I enjoy sharing our cars with people who appreciate them, Montano adds. The Saratoga Automobile Museum appreciates the Montanos generosity. Visitors will enjoy seeing these lovely wood-bodied cars from an era well never know again.

More Facts about WoodiesFord Motor Company sold more wood-bodied cars than all the other manufacturers, over 16,000 in 1946 alone, and even manufactured its own bodies for Ford and Mercury cars, in a dedicated plant at Iron Mountain, in Michigans Upper Peninsula. Ford Motor Company was vertically integrated; the wood, kiln-dried maple and ash framing with mahogany panels, was harvested from the companys expansive Iron Mountain first-growth timber tracts. It was harvested, kiln-dried and aged, all in one facility. Skilled craftsmen hand-built, assembled and trimmed each cars wooden body as they would fine furniture. Then it was shipped to a local Ford assembly plant to be mated to its engine and chassis.

General Motors didnt sell as many wood-bodied wagons as Ford. It would have been inefficient for GM to produce these cars in small numbers, so a legion of respected suppliers like Ionia, Hercules and Joseph Wildanger hand-crafted Chevrolet, Olds, Pontiac and Buick woodies. Cadillac never officially offered a wood-bodied model, although a a few custom Cadillac wood-bodied wagons were commissioned by wealthy owners. Produced in smaller numbers than their Ford counterparts, GM-branded woodies are very desirable. Packard, De Soto and Nash were two other American manufacturers who offered wood-bodied wagons.

Chrysler Corporation took a different approach, beginning in 1941, with its unique barrelback Town & Country model, so named because its twin rear doors opened sideways in clamshell fashion. Chrysler retained the Pekin Wood Products Company in Helena, Arkansas as a trusted supplier, to hand-craft its handsome Town and Country wood-bodied four-door sedans and in 1946, they began making convertibles. The Chrysler Town and Country was recently elevated to coveted Classic status by the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA).

Wood Is GoodWith their intricate, finger-jointed framing, tacked on boot tops and multiple coats of varnish, wood-bodied cars were complex and relatively expensive to build. Many pieces were made of rare bird-eye maple, resplendent with natural whorls and unique flowing patterns. Woodies were beautiful, but they were weather-sensitive and subject to an early demise. Manufacturers issued instructions with each wood-bodied car that instructed owners how to sand and re-varnish the body every year. No one would tolerate that frequency of maintenance today, but it was a different era.

And woodies were fragile. A fender-bender thatd simply dent a metal car body could reduce a hapless woodie to matchsticks. Brutal Northeast winters meant that these were essentially three-season cars, at best. As most New England woodies were stored in the winter months, a high percentage of these cars still survive.

As they aged and became inexpensive used cars, older woodies became highly prized by Californias surfers, who invented the term, woodie, and Jan and Deans hit song, Surf City, made woodie a household word). Remember: Ive got a 34 wagon and we call it a woodie? The Beach Boys sang about woodies and were often photographed with them. Hot rodders carved these rare cars up, making the survival of Americas hand-built lumber wagons even more precarious. Highly desirable now, a spacious vintage woodie wagon or a Chrysler Town and Country is an ideal old car for weekend family cruising. The National Woodie Club, now in its 36th year, welcomes all makes, and members celebrate Drive Your Woodie Day, each Spring, helping to raise awareness of these wonderful cars.